we used to draw our water from a well
cool and clear, brought up in a bucket
we didn’t have a pump, so it had to do
water never tasted so good as it did then
fresh from a spring that runs beneath our
familial homestead, bubbling to the surface
in places, but mostly hidden under ground
heated for bathing and dishwater, always
more than enough for everything and everyone

when we got city water it was like a dream
water coming from the taps and not from a
bucket pulled up on a rope; i can remember
it so vividly; it was like a bizarre luxury to me
being able to turn on all the taps and see it just
flowing freely like it was nothing at all, though
I will always remember that old well, how good
the water tasted, not like chemicals but like gold
cold and fresh, flowing over the tongue